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I need to know how to lock a table in a word document so that it will not expand to the next page as I type in it.

Anonymous
2010-10-27T18:15:37+00:00

I need to know how to lock a table in a word document so that it will not expand to the next page as I type in it.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-10-27T18:22:55+00:00

    Word doesn't have anything like that, really.

    Best you could do would be to put the table into a text box or a Frame that's anchored to a paragraph that you want to be sure stays with the table (on whatever page). Then the table can't go (unless the paragraph goes). Any additional rows the user enters will disappear at the bottom once the maximum height of the text box (or frame) has been reached.

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  1. John Korchok 231.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-04T00:10:54+00:00

    Although the original post only mentioned the table not expanding when they type into it, you can prevent a table from moving when text is typed before it, as long as it's on the first page of the document or section:

    1. Copy the table to the very top of the page, so no paragraph mark precede it.
    2. Select the table.
    3. Choose Table Tools>Layout>Properties.
    4. Select the Table tab.
    5. Change Text wrapping to Around.
    6. Click on Positioning.
    7. Change the Relative to: dropdown for both Horizontal and Vertical to Page.
    8. Set the Position: field for for both Horizontal and Vertical to your preferred measurements. OK out.

    The table stays in the same position on the page and text flows around it. The nice thing about using a table to do this, as opposed to a text box or frame, is that you can't click on the table and accidentally move it. You can only move it by opening table properties and altering the position measurements.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-03T20:27:04+00:00

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  3. Stefan Blom 339K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-05T15:28:48+00:00

    Actually, if you add sufficiently many paragraphs at the top of the page, sooner or later the table will be pushed to the next page, even when the table position is relative to the page. Of course, the table will end up in the corresponding position on the next page. This is the same way positioning relative to the page works with text boxes, shapes, and pictures.

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  4. Stefan Blom 339K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-03T21:19:08+00:00

    This is how it is done: 

    http://word.tips.net/T001605_Freezing_a_Table.html

    Note that although setting a fixed height for each table row (as the article suggests) may improve the situation, it still won't prevent the table from moving when you add or remove text before and after the table. Edits outside the table could move it so that some rows still spill over to the next page.

    There is one more thing you can do: Set "Keep with next" for each table row except for the last one; that would prevent the table from being split across a page boundary (see http://word.mvps.org/faqs/tblsfldsfms/keeptableon1page.htm), but you still wouldn't be able to control which particular page the table displays on.

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